CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

JAKUB HANDRLICA CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ same day, the Contracting Parties 4 to Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention (Brussels Supplementary Convention, BSC) 5 adopted a Protocol amending the Brussels Supplementary Convention with the aim to establish a more robust regime of supplementary compensation for the victims of a potential nuclear incident by a new international treaty (Revised Brussels Supplementary Convention, RBSC). It took seventeen years for the two new international treaties to enter into force. The Revised Paris Convention required ratification by two-thirds of the Contracting Parties as a precondition for entering into force. 6 While Switzerland and Norway deposited their instruments of ratification a decade ago (in 2009 and 2010 respectively), the European Union required its Member States to simultaneously deposit their instruments of ratification of the Revised Paris Convention. 7 Consequently, on 17 December, 2021, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom deposited their instruments of ratification of the RPC with the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 8 and requested that the deposit be registered on 1 January, 2022. At the same time, instruments of ratification of the RBSC were deposited with the Belgian Government. 9 Thus, as of 2022, a new international regime of nuclear liability emerged in Europe. 10 Thirteen countries 11 of the region are now participating in the regime liability, as established by the RPC and simultaneously in the compensation regime of the RBSC. Together, these two international regimes compose a robust regional system of nuclear liability and compensation (the Revised Paris-Brussels regime). This robust regional framework would 4 Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 5 The Convention of 31 January 1963 Supplementary to the Paris Convention of 29 July 1960 (adopted 31 Jan. 1963), as amended by the Additional Protocol of 1964 (adopted 28 Jan. 1964, entered into force on 4 Dec. 1974) and by the Protocol of 1982 (adopted 16 Nov. 1982, entered into force on 1 Aug. 1991). 6 RPC, art. 20. 7 See the Council Decision of 8 March, 2004 authorising the Member States which are Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention of 29 July 1960 on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy to ratify, in the interest of the European Community, the Protocol amending that Convention, or to accede to it, OJ L 97, 1.4.2004, pp. 53–4 (this Council Decision was enacted with respect to Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and the Council Decision of 8 November, 2007 authorising the Republic of Slovenia to ratify, in the interest of the European Community, the Protocol of 12 February 2004 amending the Paris Convention of 29 July, 1960 on Third-Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, OJ L 294, 13.11.2007, p. 23–4 (this Council Decision was enacted with respect to Slovenia, which became Member State of the EU 1 May, 2004). 10 The reasons it took seventeen years for the Contracting Parties to ratify the new convention, were outlined in detail by SCHWARTZ, J.‘Great Expectations: Where Do We Stand with the International Nuclear Liability Conventions?’ in PELZER, N. (ed), European Nuclear Liability Law in a Process of Change (Nomos 2010) pp. 42–68. 11 Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Greece and Portugal are Contracting Parties only to the RPC, without participating in the RBSC. Turkey hasn’t ratified the RPC yet and thus, belongs to the regime of nuclear liability, as established by the PC. 8 RPC, art. 19.a. 9 RBSC, art. 20.b.

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